Huskers Drop Opener at Oklahoma State

Stillwater, Okla. – Oklahoma State’s Thomas Keeling was the model of effectively wild, as Oklahoma State downed Nebraska, 8-2, in the series opener Friday night.

Keeling tossed 7.1 shutout innings, limiting Nebraska to just four singles in upping his record to 2-3. Keeling hit three and walked four, but the left-hander worked out of danger all night in a 144-pitch performance. He recorded 11 strikeouts while the Huskers went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

Luis Uribe homered and drove in two runs for Oklahoma State, while Kevin David and Dane Phillips both had two hits and an RBI, as the Cowboys (16-7, 1-3 Big 12) broke the game open with three runs in the fourth against Nebraska starter Michael Mariot to take a 4-0 lead.

Adam Bailey belted his Big 12-leading 10th homer for the Huskers, a two-run shot in the ninth off of OSU reliever Ian McCarthy, to avoid the shutout, as Nebraska (14-12, 2-5 Big 12) managed just five hits.

The first inning would be a sign of things to come for the Big Red, as Nebraska loaded the bases without a hit, only to see Keeling settle down and work out of trouble. Two hit batters and a walk to the top of the Husker lineup put ducks on the pond, but the hard-throwing southpaw fanned Tyler Farst and got Cody Asche to foul out before Chad Christensen flew out to end the frame.

“We didn’t’ take advantage of the rough start on his part,” Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson said.  “It was a rough outing all the way around for us. Our first three at-bats we were aggressive and disciplined, but we didn’t do that after that. He pitched up in the zone well. We had a lot of fly balls and a lot of strikeouts and that was a huge factor.”

Oklahoma State got on the scoreboard in the third, getting a two-out double from Kevin David to take a 1-0 lead. With one out, Dusty Harvard doubled down the line in left before David sent a 1-1 pitch from Mariot into shallow right just beyond the dive attempt by NU center fielder DJ Belfonte.

OSU extended its lead to 4-0 with three runs in the fourth off of Mariot, who pitched into the eighth in a losing effort to fall to 2-4 on the year. Nico Rosthenhausler opened the frame with a single, stole second and scored as on a double off the bat of Dane Phillips before Uribe lined a two-run opposite field homer over the fence in right.

“The fourth inning really hurt us,” Anderson said. “If we could have stayed in a 2-0 game, we still had a chance to put pressure on them.’

The Cowboys extended their lead to 6-0 in the seventh, getting an RBI single from Tom Belza and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Matt Ginter before taking advantage of a Husker error and two wild pitches to push across two more runs in the eighth, as Mariot allowed eight runs on 11 hits in seven-plus innings.

The two teams will continue the series Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., and the game will be on the Husker Sports Network and on Huskers.com. Live video is on Okstate.com. Neither team has announced its starter for Saturday’s contest.